It should not be forgotten that the reason why the March 2nd elections results have not yet been declared is that on March 4th senior officials of GECOM began a treacherous campaign to steal the election from the people by bastardizing, then aborting the count for District Four. Had the count for District Four proceeded like for all the other districts the results could have been accurately declared on March 5th.
This was not to be and since then there have been a series of insidious efforts to stymie the will of the people including two fictitious declarations by District Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo and the challenge by APNU+AFC candidate Ulita Moore which has been repelled in the Guyana Court of Appeal.
The efforts continued yesterday with the astounding contention by Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield that a recount of the votes from March 2nd could take as many as 156 days. If he persists on this path, Mr Lowenfield should be dismissed from his tasks and an investigation opened into subversion of the election process.
Today’s meeting of GECOM will provide the Chair, Justice Claudette Singh with the ultimate opportunity to repair her feckless handling of her duties. Since election results usually have to be declared within 15 days, the recount should be considered a reboot and the personnel and observers necessary to accomplish this task in two weeks must be immediately mobilised. The Chair should consider the enlisting of recognised accounting firms along with trusted staff at GECOM. It goes without saying that this necessarily means the exclusion of Messrs Lowenfield and Mingo and Ms Myers.
Justice Singh holds the key to whether Guyana will in the short-term be a recognised democracy or a pariah with all the attendant jeopardies for the country, its people and the riggers.
